Mars Polar Lander Mission Status
                  February 16, 2000

     Radio scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have 
made a detailed analysis of data taken by a radio telescope at 
Stanford University on Jan. 4 and believe the suspect signal is 
more likely of terrestrial origin and not from Mars Polar Lander.  

     Further analysis of data taken by radio telescopes in the 
Netherlands, Italy and at Stanford on Feb. 8 has not yielded any 
signal from Mars Polar Lander. 

     Extensive analysis of all data taken during the last few 
weeks is ongoing.

     "We saw something in the Jan. 4 data that had all the 
earmarks of a signal and we felt we had to check it out. In 
parallel, we started to perform analysis to determine if the 
signal came from Mars," said Richard Cook, project manager for 
Mars Polar Lander at JPL. "Based on the latest results, it is 
unlikely that we will attempt to listen again."

     Mars Polar Lander is managed by the Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.  
Lockheed Martin Astronautics Inc., Denver, Colo., is the agency's 
industrial partner for development and operation of the 
spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of 
Technology, Pasadena, Calif.


MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

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